Vernon

Janice Lenius, creator and owner of Earth Elements Farm Products in Cherryville, showcased her products recently at a Hollywood trade show prior to the daytime Emmy Awards in Beverly Hills. Among the celebrities who paused to try the products was fellow Canadian Alex Trebek.

Hollywood elite may be high class, but this country girl wowed 'em, to say the least!

And the opportunity will continue to pay dividends for a Cherryville resident who owes it all to the power of the internet.... and her ability to make good products.

Cherryville resident Janice Lenius, creator and owner of Earth Elements Farm Products and Potion Tattoo Aftercare, was invited to showcase her products at the Talent Lounge of the 40th annual Daytime Emmy Awards, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on June 15-17.

Lenius was invited by Off The Wall Gifts, the producer of the official Daytime Entertainment Emmy® Awards Talent Lounge and Gift Bag. The company researches up and coming brands on the internet and Earth Elements from li’l ol’ Cherryville was spotted.

After being contacted by Val Wilson of Off The Wall Gifts, Lenius was asked to send further info and samples. She was then chosen as one of 11 exhibitors, out of thousands that applied.

When Lenius questioned Val about Off The Wall’s interest, she was told: “We call it ‘The Oprah Effect’; paying it forward and giving deserving products a shot at being known.”

“Dragon’s Den was there, doing a follow-up story on the ‘sock-girl’, and was surprised to find us other Canadians there too.," explained Lenius. "They were shooting video clips to be shown on Dragon’s Den in September.”

Conversation ensued and Janice has been invited to audition for Dragon’s Den in January, here in Canada.

“We were told to expect a slow start to the day, and then all of a sudden, in came a flood of stars with their entourages" said Lenius. "Daytime soap opera stars, Disney children actors … it was overwhelming. They started trying our products, and then it got easy – they loved them!”

The day continued with meetings and conversations with many people, including Alex Trebek of Jeopardy, and staff from MGM, to name just a few.

“I had had some nerves about how I was going to speak with these people, being such a small-town girl, but everyone was so nice,” she explained.

Sunday was another busy day at the talent lounge. Then at 2 pm, everyone headed down to the red carpet for the Emmy Awards.

“We went down and watched the whole thing,” said Lenius. “Then Val Wilson tells us that she’s able to get us into the actual Awards.”

“It was like a dream.... George Lucas, Betty White, Sharon & Ozzy Osbourne, and so many others walked right by us – including Dr. Drew who tells me he loves my lip balm, which his assistant got from me the day before,” said a very excited Lenius.

The Cherryville entrepreneur is now working hard to take advantage of all the promotional opportunities this experience has brought her and to be ready for the next stage of growing her business.